Met chief attacks Stockwell prosecution decision

Sir Ian Blair today made an extraordinary attack on the decision to charge Scotland Yard with health and safety offences over the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.

Just ten days after the Crown Prosecution Service announced the Met would be prosecuted for alleged breaches of health and safety laws, Sir Ian launched a passionate defence of his force.

Ignoring normal protocols pending the outcome of a trial, the beleaguered Met chief said the decision to prosecute the Metropolitan Police under health and safety laws could have "very significant" implications for everyday policing.

In a thinly-veiled attack on the move, the Met Commissioner said the case could prove to be a "fundamental turning point" for British policing.

He appeared to suggest that frontline officers could become less likely to take risks if his force was found guilty of the charges.

Although privately many officers agreed with Sir Ian's views, there was widespread astonishment that he decided to speak out ahead of the trial.

Insiders said gaffe-prone Sir Ian, criticised earlier this year for publicly questioning media interest in the Soham murders case, should not have commented publicly on the CPS decision.

Ironically, Sir Ian is regarded by police insiders as being the main beneficiary of the CPS decision to bring health and safety charges.

The decision means the damning report into the Stockwell shooting by the Independent Police Complaints Commission may not be published for a further two years, after the health and safety prosecution is completed.

Sir Ian's comments came as his force's watchdog, the Metropolitan Police Authority, agreed to write to the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, questioning the decision to bring the health and safety case against Scotland Yard rather than prosecute individual officers.

After listening to much criticism from authority members of the CPS's decision to charge Scotland Yard, Sir Ian said: "If this health and safety prosecution goes ahead it will be a fundamental turning point in policing.

"This goes right to the heart of the policing mission, mandate, the nature of risk-taking and the nature of assessing risks beforehand.'

'Far-reaching implications'

Sir Ian said he was not convinced that such far-reaching implications were the intention of those who had drawn up the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, under which the Met is being prosecuted.

The Commissioner also rejected suggestions that his force was guilty of a "total system failure" in relation to the death of the innocent Brazilian.

Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times in the head by anti-terror officers at Stockwell Tube station in south London on July 22 after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.

The CPS announced earlier this month that no individual officers would be charged over his death, but the Met would face a prosecution under health and safety laws as an organisation.

The MPA members yesterday agreed to draft a letter to the Attorney General, questioning the CPS's decision, and also to write to Home Secretary John Reid about the issue.

Among those to criticise the CPS was former MPA chair Lord Harris, who described its decision as a "back covering exercise" and "extremely unfortunate".

Lord Tope, the Liberal Democrat leader in the London Assembly, was also fiercely critical of the CPS.

He said the prosecution would lead to a "long delay" in the publication of the IPCC's report and pointed out that if the Met was found guilty of health and safety breaches, it would not be individuals held to account but taxpayers who would ultimately pick up the tab or any eventual fine.

Peter Herbert, an independent member of the MPA, described the CPS's decision as a "cop-out" and dismissed it as "political expediency".

The de Menezes family attacked the CPS decision on the day of the announcement, describing it as "completely unbelievable" and "shameful".

The first court hearing will be held on August 14 at City of Westminster Magistrates in London and is likely to result in a trial at the Old Bailey late next year, at the earliest.